Deflation alarm for pneumatic tires



March 1 1927.

8. D. WELLS; -DEFLAT] ION ALARM FOR PNEUMATIC TIRES Filed Feb. 18, 1921IIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1.111111111111111 INVENTOR t W 19. 111,24

Patented Mar. 1, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BURLING D. WELLS, OF DANBU'RY; CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOBi-TO ROBERT S;BLAIR, F

STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT.

DEFIJATION ALARM. FGR PNEUMATIC TIRES.-

Application filed February 18, 1921.

This invention relates to alarms for use for wheels equipped withpneumatic tires and which will give warning whenever the tire isdeflated entirely or. partly.

One of the objects thereof is to provide means to give warning upon apneumatic tire becoming soft. Another objectisitogive warning whenevera. safe degree of. deflationhas been passed. Another objectv is to provide an alarinwhich shall. bereliable in action. and at the same timesimple in. construction and easy of application. Another. object is to.provide an alarm of compelling character in action but quiet at allother times. Another object is to provide an alarm which shall beinconditionto operate at all times and unaffected by the elements,especially mud and ice.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinationof'elements and arrangement of parts which will.

be exemplified. in the structure hereinafter described and the scope ofthe application of which will be indicated in the following.

claims.

Figure 1 13 a diagrammatic side elevation of a pneumatic tired wheelhaving mountet upon the inside of the felloe a signalling device.

Figure llis an enlarged view of the sig nalling device in sideelevation. showing. the

method of mounting, upon the felloe of the wheel.

Figure 111 is a cross sectional elevation Similar characters refer tosimilar parts throughoutin' the several views of the drawmgs.

mounted on the inside of the felloeasignailing device. 11 diametricallyopposite'the. valve 12.. The S1g111lll1]g.CleV1GGll-llZtS an actuatingmember 13 projecting in a radialdirection with regards'to the center ofvthe wheel and'adjacent to the tire 14. Thissignalling device 11 is somounted that the Turning now to the drawings we have in Figure I apneumatic tired wheel 10 having.

Serial. No. 446 161.

actuating. member 13 is on that side of the wheel oppositeto the sidefrom which the tire is removable. Tn other-words, if we consider thiswheel mounted upon a \ehicle the actuating member 13 would be on theinside side of the wheel. Turningnow to Figure 11 we have at 15 asectionof the felloe of the wheel 10 and. its related parts, thereinforcingrim-16, thedcmountable tire rim 17 andthe section-of thepneumatic tire 14E. Mountedupon the inside of the felloe 15 is a casing18 having. a lug 1 9 integral therewith andbent. down to conform .to theexterior surface of the felloe and passing under. the head of the lugbolt 20. The lug bolt 20 and the lug 19 are more clearly shown in theirexact relation in Figure III.

In Figure III we have at the upper end of the casing 18 a thin diaphragm21 rigidly held against the flange on the upper end ofthe casing 18 bythe clamping ring 22 and the screws such as 23, suitable packing beinginterposed between the diaphragm 22 and the casing l8' to insure a watertight joint. A11 actuating member 24- is journaled upon the pin 25-whichpasses through and is journaled in the casing 18 just inside of the pin26 in the casing18as shown. The actuating member 2 enlarged at thepointwhere the pin 25 passes through itandisgivena substantiallycylindrical form whose aXisis co-incr dent withthe axis of the pin 25,the function of this cylindrical surface is to actin conjunction withthe packing piece 27 which is clampedbetween the casing. 18 and theclamping plate 28 by the screws such as 29 to form a stuffing boxwhich-will prevent water and other foreign substances from entering thecasing 18 yet at the same time permitting. an appreciable relativerotary movement of the actuating.member-24 about the pin 25 as an axisunhampered by excessive friction due to mud and the like. The exteriorend of-the actuating. member 2a is curved outward away from the lateralsurface of'the tire so as not to present any sharp edge to thetire thusavoiding any chance of damageto the tire by the signalling deviceitself. It is my intention to form this exterior end oftheactuatingmember24 of some resilient substance so that in theevent ofthis membercoming into contact-with any obstruction-in the road over which thewheelFor simplicity I have shown this actuating member in Figure III as beingmade up of one strip of metal which for all ordinary use would besufficient but-where extreme reliability is required it could be made ofresilient metal as hitherto expressed. The inside end of the actuatingmember 24; is shaped to form a sector of a circle, the outside of thesector being provided with notches or teeth such as 30 adapted to engagewith an adjustable point mounted in the diaphragm 21 and locked inposition by the lock nut 32. An adjustable limit screw 33 is threadedthrough the casing 18 and is locked in positionby the lock nut 34 andthe interior end of the actuating member 24 is held a ainst thisadjusting screw 33 at all times when the signal is not giving warning,by means of the spring 35, the ends of which spring engage with thesector shaped end of the actuating member 24 and the casing 18respectively as shown in the drawing in Figure III. The adjusting screw33 may be so adjusted that the exterior end of the actuating member 24will be at any desired'distance from the lateral surface of the tire andby reason of this adjustment the signal may be adjusted to operate andgive warning upon the deflation of the tire 14 having passed beyond anydesirable point. A tire lug 36 clamped against the side of the felloe bythe bolt and the nut 37 holds the tire rim 17 securely on the felloe 15,a shoulder on the inside of the felloe reinforcing strip 16 engagingwith the side of the the rim l7 limiting its inward movement in respectto the wheel.

The action of thesignalling device is as follows: Starting with themechanism in position as shown in Figure III with the actuating member24 up against the adjustable stop 33 and with the adjustable point 31 inthe center of the diaphragm 21 adjusted to engage with the teeth on theinside end of the actuating member 24, if now'the vehicle upon which thewheel 10 is mounted should roll along the ground, the part of the tireadjacent to which the actuating member 13 is mounted will at intervalscome into contact with the surface of the road and if the inflationpressure of the tire 14 is proper there will be no deformation of thenormal inflated shape of the tire other than would occur in a properlyinflated tire and the actuating member 13 will'not come in contact withthe tire or be moved in any way what soever except should it be struckby some stone or other projection in the roadbed, but if the pressure inthe tire 14 should become diminishedby reason of a puncture or someother similar cause so that the tire is appreciablyflattened out whereit comes into contact with the road suriace, each time thepart of thetire 141 adjacent to the signalling device 11 comes into contact withthe road the actuating member 24 will be moved up towards the positionshown by the dotted lines in Figure III due to the tire increasin inwidth because of the flattening out or the tire at its point of contactwith the road surface. Thus at each revolution of the wheel an impulsewill be given to the actuating member 24 and the inner end of thisactuating member will be moved away from the adjusting screw 33compressing the spring and drawing the teeth 30 across the ad justingpoint 31 which is mounted in the center 01 the diaphragm 21 thus settingthe diaphragm 21 in vibration causingthe emis- V sion of an easilyaudible sound repeated as sprin 35 returns the parts. It is theintention that the mechanism will be so adjusted that the sound causedby the vibration of the diaphragm 21 will be so discordant and loud thatit could not easily be mistaken for some other noise about the mechanismof the car. If it is desired that the signalling device shall givewarning before the tire becomes entirely flat this may be accomplishedby unscrewing the adjusting screw 33 so .1

that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawingsis to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. a

Having described this invention, I claim:

1. In a pneumatic tire deflation signal ling device, in combination, awheel provided with a pneumatic tire, an audible signal mounted on saidwheel and comprising a casing, means in said casing adapted to operatesaid signal, means outside said casing adapted to be actuated upondeflation of the tire, a part extending through said casing to connectsaid outside means with said operating means, and a dust-excludingdevice co-acting with said part to exclude dust from the interior ofsaid casing;

2. In a pneumatic tire deflation signaling device, in combination, anaudible signal mounted upon a wheel and comprising a substantiallyclosed casing, an actuating member projecting through said casingadapted to coact with the tire and upon movement thereby in onedirection to operate said signal, means urging said member in theopposite direction, and means coa'ctingwith said member inside saidcasing and adjustable, from the outside thereof adaptedto limit themovement of said member toward said tire and normally hold said memberout of engagement with said the 3. In a pneumatic tire deflationsignalling device, in combination, an audible signal mounted upon awheel, means comprising a tire-actuated member adapted on movement inone direction to operate said signal, a spring urging said member in theopposite direction, means adaptedto limit the move ment of said memberinthe direction toward said tire, and means adapted to adjust saidlimiting means.

4. In a deflation alarm for pneumatic tires, in combination, an audiblesignal:

mountedzupon. a pneumatic-tired wheel and comprising a frame secured tothe wheel, a vibratory diaphragm mounted in said frame, a rigid memberprojecting from said diaphragm adapted to be struck to causesaiddiaphragm to sound, a lever pivoted upon said frame and extendingtherefrom toward the side of the tire, the end portion of said leverbeing normally adjacent to a portion of the side wall of the tire and ina position wherein it is spaced from'the side wall of the tire when thetire is running in normally inflated condition, and wherein it isadapted to be engaged by said side wall and swung upwardly thereby whensaid side wall portion is bulged outwardly due to the tire be ing notproperly inflated, spring means tending to hold said lever in saidnormal position, and means actuated by swinging of said lever adapted tostrike said rigid mem ber on said diaphragm and cause said diaphragm tosound.

In a deflation alarm for pneumatic tires, in combination, an audiblesignal mounted upon a pneumatic-tired wheel and comprising a framesecured to the wheel, a vibratory diaphragm mounted in said frame, arigid member projecting from said diaphragm and adaptel to be struck tocause said diaphragm to sound, a lever pivot-ed upon said frame andextending therefrom toward the side of the tire, the end portion of saidlever being normally adjacent to a portion of the side wall of the tireand in a position wherein it is spaced from the side wall of the tirewhen the tire is running in normally inflated condition, and wherein itis adapted to be engaged by said side wall and swung upwardly therebywhen said side wall portion is bulged outwardly due to the tire beingnot properly inflated, spring means tending to hold said lever in saidnormal position, and a part at the end of said lever adjacent saiddiaphragm adapted when said lever is swung about its pivot to strikesaid rigid member upon said diaphragm and cause said dia-- phragm tosound. 7

6. In a deflation alarm for pneumatic tires, in combination, an audiblesignal iounted upon a pneumatic-tired wheel and comprising asubstantiallyenclosed casing having a vibratory diaphragm forming onewall thereof, a rigid member projecting from a portion of said diaphragminto the interior of said casing and adaptedto be struckto cause saiddiaphragm to sound; a I

of the tire, the end portion of said lever being normally adjacent to aportion of the side wall of the tire and in a position'wherein it isspaced from the side wall off thetire whenwthe tire is running innormally in flated condition, .and wherein it; is adapted: to beengagedsby saidiside wall and: swung upwardly thereby when said sidewall portion is bulged outwardly due to the tire being run when notproperly inflated, spring means tending to hold said lever in saidnormal position, and means within said casing actuated by swinging ofsaid lever adapted to strike said rigid member projecting from. theinner side of said diaphragm and cause said diaphragm to sound.

7. In a deflation alarm for pneumatic tires, in combination an audiblesignal mounted upon a pneumatic-tired wheel and comprising a framesecured to the wheel, a vibratory diaphragm mounted in said frame, arigid member projecting from said diaphragm and adapted to be struck tocause said diaphragm to sound, a lever pivoted upon said frame andextending therefroin toward the side of the tire, the end portion ofsaid lever being normally adjacent to a portion of the side wall of thetire and in a position wherein it is spaced from the side wall of thetire when the tire is running in normally inflated condition, andwherein it is adapted to be engaged by said side wall and swung upwardlythereby when said side wall portion is bulged outwardly due to the tirebeing not properly inflated, spring means tending to hold said lever insaid normal position, and means actuated by swinging of said leveradapted to strike said rigid member on said diaphragm and cause saiddiaphragm to sound, said lever being of flat spring metal adapted tobear against a substantial area of the side wall of said tire and beingadapted to yield and spring back to its original. contour if bent bystriking an obstruction in the road.

8. In .a pneumatic tire deflation signaling device, in combination, anaudible signal mounted upon a pneumatic-tired wheel, a member mounted toswing and having a portion operativelyrelated to said signal and adaptedupon movement to strike and sound the same, and having a portion posi-'tioned adjacent said tire adapted to be engaged thereby upon said tirerunning soft and to be swung to sound said signal and adapted to bepositioned out of the path of deformation of said tire when said tire isrunning in normally inflated condition, means urging said member toswing toward said tire, and adjustable means adapted to ber toward saidtire, a means limiting the movement of said member toward said tire to aposition in which it is spaced therefrom beyond the path of deformationthereof with the tire running; in ordinary condition and in position tobe engaged and moved by the tire uponthe tire becoming soft, and meansadapted to adjust the normal position of said member with respect to thetire.

Signed at Stamford in the county of Fail-field and State ofConnecticutthis 16 20 day of February A. D. 1921.

BURLING D. ELLS.

